Refugee crisis: Slovenian police tear gas migrants

Incident erupts at Harmica border crossing as Slovenians say they have
registered more than 1,000 refugees

By AFP, video source ITN

1:12AM BST 19 Sep 2015

Slovenian police used tear gas late on Friday to disperse a group of migrants on its border as the country's government said it was considering opening safe corridors for refugees to pass through the tiny Alpine country.

The incident happened at the Harmica border crossing as several hundred migrants demanded to be allowed to enter Slovenia.

Migrants react after pepper spray was used in a small village of Rigonce (Photo: AFP / Jure Makovec)

After over an hour of tension, riot police used tear gas to stop migrants, some with children, that were pushing against a police cordon at a bridge on the border.

The clash happened just hours after Prime Minister Miro Cerar announced Slovenia might consider the creation of safe corridors for refugees wanting to reach northern Europe if they continue arriving in large numbers.

"If the pressure of refugees (on the borders) becomes too strong, Slovenia will certainly discuss ... possible so-called corridors with all the countries that might be concerned," Cerar said in a statement after a meeting of the country's National Security Council.

Migrants and police rumble as the border is closed (Photo: AFP/Jure Makovec)

The Slovenian authorities on Friday registered over 1,000 refugees that had entered the country while more than 700 were still at the Obrezje border crossing, 20 kilometres (13 miles) east of Croatian capital Zagreb, waiting to be allowed in.

"New refugees continuously arrive so it is very hard to have exact figures," Slovenian police spokeswoman Alenka Drenek told AFP.